What’s recently happened?
On Saturday, March 9, Washington Township High School (WTHS) split up to serve the community in two different events. In the morning, the WTHS Key Club volunteered at the annual Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast, and just a few hours later the WTHS band held its annual Noodles and Notes dinner.
Supported by Bucher Technologies, the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast was a huge fundraising event for Riley Children’s Hospital. Over 30 WTHS Key Club members volunteered at this event serving people, making pancake batter, working the cotton candy stand, painting faces, and much more.
“I liked being able to help raise money for a good cause and working with my friends,” Sophomore Hope Casaday said.
Casady spent six hours at the face painting station. The students also got breaks to be able to enjoy the amazing pancakes.
The Pancake Breakfast was a huge success and a favorite Key Club event for students to volunteer at.
Later that night, WTHS Band Director Justin Thompson held the band dinner in the school cafeteria. Birky’s Family Farms catered a delicious meal consisting of chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, green beans and cookies. Along with that, many band families and local businesses donated baskets to be raffled off.
At the dinner, the band students were also given opportunities to get involved in multiple ways. They could volunteer at the dinner as servers and were tasked with selling as many tickets as possible. For each ticket they sold, a percentage of the money went to funding the band trip to Orlando, Florida, in summer 2025. Freshman Saxophonist Angela Shear sold the most tickets.
“I believe I sold 80 or 90 tickets, and I did that by going house to house in my neighborhood,” Shear said. “My mom always helps me out every year by calling local businesses and communicating with friends that own businesses to see if they would be interested in donating to the school.”
After a lot of hard work, the band ended up raising over $11,000. Thompson and the band are very thankful to all of their supporters and those who volunteered or donated.
What’s coming up?
Spring is finally here, and with that comes the final quarter of the school year. Spring Break started in March with students returning to school April 2, ready to finish out the school year strong.
As the year counts down, it is time for all the National Honor Society and Key Club students to finish getting their hours. With baseball, track and field, and softball starting, students will have a lot of opportunities to work concessions and get their hours that way.
Along with all of that, prom is coming up on May 11. Prom is open to juniors and seniors, who are all excitedly starting their shopping for their outfits.
“I’m really excited for prom. Junior prom was a lot of fun, and it’ll be more fun since we’re seniors this year,” Senior Elizabeth Ferjo said.
Two of the biggest band events of the year will be happening this spring: the high school band contest on April 20 and the spring concert on April 29 that shows off all the bands. The band members have been practicing hard for both events for months and are excited to perform.
Staff spotlight:
Janet Wade has been the choir and music teacher at Washington Township Schools (WTS) for 32 years of her career. Wade teaches elementary music all the way through middle school and high school choir. Though many students have a love of singing, most students would agree that they originally chose to take choir just to continue having her as a teacher.
Originally from West Seneca, New York, Wade has taught music for 43 years overall, and before sang professionally.
“I always thought I wanted to be a regular classroom teacher. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a music teacher until I got to high school, and when I got to high school and realized there were actual music teachers, I found my niche,” Wade said.
During high school, Wade got the chance to tour Europe singing with a choir and concert band. Afterwards, she attended Fredonia State University for music education, and then transferred to Valparaiso University. Wade received a bachelor's degree in music education and a master’s degree in music. Along with that, Wade has gotten the chance to sing with famous choir directors Robert Shaw and Norman Luboff.
Over the years, Wade has been very committed to the drama and music programs at WTHS, planning out concerts and shows, taking the time to practice with students one on one, and rehearsing for hours on end.
“This year, the spring concert is going to include the middle school and the high school choir,” Wade said. “Each will have their own segment. Middle school will be doing songs from Circle the State with Song Music Festival, and the high school will be doing songs from Disney movies.”
When Wade has free time, she enjoys reading, going to movies and shows, sewing and traveling.
Student spotlight:
Senior Logan Armstrong has attended WTS since first grade and is originally from Valparaiso. Armstrong is a committed student and likes to be involved in school activities, participating in both Porter County Technical Honor Society and National Honor Society while being a key player on the baseball, basketball, and volleyball teams, even receiving the award of PCC All-Conference baseball.
“I will miss playing sports at WTHS. I loved every year I was able to play. My favorite high school memory is winning state my freshman year for baseball,” Armstrong said.
After high school, Armstrong plans to attend Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne for software development in computer science. Armstrong’s dream job is to work at a large company as a software developer, such as Microsoft. If he could live anywhere in the world, it would be Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Armstrong’s family consists of his parents, Deb and Jason, and three siblings, Jared, Mikaela, and Aiden.
“My parents have helped me so much through high school and taught me lessons on the way to becoming who I am today,” Armstrong said.
When he is not at school or playing sports, Armstrong enjoys working on computers, doing landscaping, and playing video games. In college, Armstrong wants to continue playing baseball.